Article package



May 21, 1963 w. M. SCHOLL ARTICLE PACKAGE Original Filed May 9, 1958 INVENTOR, MdZ/A/V M 609044 v BY A 'I'TORNE YS 3,090,484 ARTICLE PACKAGE William M. Scholl, 211-213 W. Schiller St., Chicago 10, Ill. Original application May 9, 1958, Ser. No. 734,195. Di-

vided and this application Dec. 16, 1960, Ser. No.

1 Claim. (Cl. 20680) This invention relates to improvements in an article package, and more particularly to an article package that exhibits the contents to the purchaser in an attractive manner, the package being highly desirable for use in connection with soft articles that might be compressed, distorted, or otherwise become misshapen either during packaging, or by a prospective purchaser in handling the package, although the invention may have other uses and purposes as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

The instant application is a division of my copending application entitled Method of Packaging, filed May 9, 1958, Serial No. 734,195, now Patent No. 2,984,056, which copending application more fully sets forth, describes and claims the method of producing the instant invention.

The pleasing appearance of a package and the effective manner in which that package attractively presents a commodity to a prospective purchaser have now become extremely important factors in the commercialization of numerous articles, and such is particularly true when the articles have direct competition in the form of similar articles of the same general style, function, and quality. Retailers, especially variety, chain, and self-service stores have learned that a package which fully displays its contents to a prospective purchaser not only stimulates sales, but also materially lessens sales effort. As a consequence, numerous attractive display packages have been developed, and one attractive type of package is the so called skin package, wherein a thermoplastic film or thin sheet is disposed around the article in some manner to enclose it and yet permit full visibility of the article in the package. Frequently in the making of such a package the thermoplastic film was positioned about the article by virtue of a pressure differential, either by a blast of air from the outer side of the film, or by a vacuum acting upon the inner side of the film. In most cases, the film was forced into conformity with whatever it enclosed. Consequently, such type of packaging was heretofore substantially limited to products of a reasonably stiif or rigid character. Soft and yieldable articles in most cases could not be so packaged because of the possibility that they would become compressed, misshapen, or otherwise distorted by the application of the cover film. Yet it is desirable to package soft articles in a display package of that character, rather than go to the objectionable and often prohibitive expense of making a pre-formed box of thermoplastic or other transparent and relatively rigid material.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the instant invention to provide an economical and highly attractive package for either extremely soft or even hard articles, and wherein a thermoplastic film or thin sheet is utilized as a cover member to form a complete closure for the package, but the film is prevented from contacting the packaged article or articles.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an article package of the display type, embodying a transparent thermoplastic film or thin sheet as a closure member, and containing a soft article in its true and original shape with no pressure brought to bear upon the article unless the package is disrupted.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a rates Patent 3,990,484 Patented May 21, 1963 2 display package, highly desirable for use in connection with soft and yieldable articles, the package embodying a thin transparent film or sheet as a closure member, and the article being so contained within the package that pressure even by handling cannot be brought to bear upon the article itself unless the package is disrupted.

Also a feature of this invention is the provision of a display article package wherein a base member is utilized having a frame upstanding therefrom within which the packaged article is disposed, and a transparent film or thin sheet overlies the frame above the article and is secured to the base around the frame.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a display package wherein an article may be disposed on a base member inside a frame which might be an economical section of an extruded tube, and a thermoplastic film overlies the frame out of contact with the article and is secured to the base member around the-frame to afford a complete closure for the article.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantages of the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a package embodying principles of the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line IIII of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic fragmentary vertical sectional view illustrating the formation of the package; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating different forms of extrusions from which sections might be removed to provide package frames.

As shown on the drawings:

The embodiment of the instant invention selected for illustrative purposes comprises a backing or base member 1 which may be formed of a flat sheet of cardboard, fiberboard, or any other suitable reasonably n'gid substance. 'I'his base member may be provided with numerous fine perforations as indicated at 2 in a relatively wide marginal region, preferably extending entirely around the base member. These perforations are for the purpose of facilitating the attachment of the cover member, and do not interfere with any coloring, decorative or advertising matter that may be desired on the base to be viewed by a prospective purchaser.

As shown in a rather exaggerated manner in FIGURES 2 and 3, the perforated marginal portion of the base member is preferably coated on its inner or upper surface with an adhesive spread 3, preferably of pressure sensitive character, of transparent substance, and sulficiently thin and coated so as not to interfere with the passage of air through the apertures during the forming of the pacakge.

Upstanding from the base member in an intermediate location, preferably just inside the apertured marginal portion of the base member, is a frame 4 which may satisfactorily be made of a strip of paperboard, thermoplastic material such as cellulose acetate, other suitable substance shaped in tubular form to a desired configuration, The frame may be transparent or colored as may be deemed most feasible or desirable in regard to the particular article being packaged.

In many cases, it will be far more economical to sever frame sections from a tube of indefinite length, rather than endeavor to form frames from strip or sheet material. To this end I have illustrated in FIGURE 4 several tubes 5, 6 and 7 of extruded thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic material from which frames of desired height might readily and economically be severed. The frame may have any desired shape, the tube being round in cross-section, the tube 6 being square, and the tube 7 being octagonal. Obviously other elliptical or polygonal shapes could'be provided as desired.

The frame is disposed edgewise on the base member so as to be upstanding therefrom, and may be secured to the base member by the inner edge portion of the adhesive spread 3, if so desired, although in many instances it is not necessary to secure the frame to the base before application of the cover, unless such is desired to facilitate speed in forming the package and to prevent possible displacement of the frame during the package forming operation.

After the positioning of the frame on the base, an article 8 is placed inside the frarne and it is to be noted that the height of the frame exceeds the thickness of the article. In most instances where such frame 4 is utilized the article 8 will be a soft, yieldable article that might be'compressed, misshapen, or otherwise distorted without the portection of the frame. In most cases the article will be freely disposed on the base member inside the frame, but if so desired it may be temporarily secured to the base member, until put to use, by any suitable means, the exact manner of attachment depending upon the particular character of the article itself.

A cover member 9 which may satisfactorily be in the form of a thermoplastic film or thin sheet, preferably transparent, extends over the top of the frame above the article '8, and well out of contact with that article, intimately down over the sides of the'frame as indicated at '10, and is secured to the base member around the frame by means of the adhesive spread '3 as indicated at 11, in FIGURES 1 and 2. The packaged article 8 is plainly visible through the cover 6 so that a prospective customer sees the article just as it is in its natural state' and size, and the article might be viewed laterally in the event the frame is also transparent. Further, it will be noted that the article is completely enclosed in the package, and it is necessary to cut or otherwise break the cover 9 in order to remove the article from the package. But while in the package the article is notonly self-selling in effect, but it is protected from distortion by the package and also from distortion byway of rough handling by a prospective customer, and the article remains in a clean and sanitary condition until the cover is disrupted.

In order to better present the instant invention, I have illustrateda step in the making of the device in FIGURE 3 of the drawings. A housing 12, interiorly annularly shouldered as at 13, and provided with an outlet conduit 14 maybe utilized. The base member 1 of the package is placed Within the marginal housing on the shoulder 13, the frame positioned, the article placed in the frame, and the cover 9.in the form of a flat thermoplastic sheet is disposed over the frame. Preferably the cover 9 has been pre-heated before being positioned over the frame, and upon the production of a partial vacuum within the housing 12, with the suction acting through the perforations 2 in the base member, the cover is drawn down, stretched tautly over the frame, smoothly along the side walls of the frame, and into contact with the adhesive on the base member. The stretching of the film over the frame, of course, occurs where there are no apertures in the base member inside the frame. However, if so desired, a fine line of apertures may be left just inside the frame to cause a slight indentation in the part of the film overlying the frame, if such is needed for decorative purposes. Numerous other variations in the actual structure of the package will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that I have provided a package that fully displays the merchandise therein, is attractive in appearance, and yet extremely economical. It will be especially noted that the package may be utilized for either soft or hard articles, but when a soft and yieldable article is packaged it is effectively protected against compression or distortion during packaging and thereafter so protected against reasonably rough handling on the part of a prospective customer, the merchandise remaining in its natural shape and size and in a clean and sanitary condition until the package is actually disrupted.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

A display package for a soft compressible article, comprising a relatively rigid flat base member, a rigid tubular frame of substantial length having one end on said base member and its other end opening away from the base member, said frame being of less area than said base member and positioned to leave a margin of substantial width of the upper face of said base member surrounding said frame, a soft article of less height than said frame on the base member and entirely within and protected by the'frame, and a transparent plastic film overlying and closing said other end of said frame and intimately contacting the frame side Wall entirely about References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,206,635 Hays et a1. July 2, 1940 2,240,811 Snelling May 6, 194-1 2,861,404 Stratton Nov. 25, 1958 

